


Let It All Burn Down

by icountcards



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, i ignored all my wips for this sorry, more like it diverges but then meets back up with canon, not much though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:40:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22647319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icountcards/pseuds/icountcards
Summary: “The Phoenix burned me badly enough the first time. It can stay ashes for all I care.”Or: Episode 4x01, but Mac and Desi never dated.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 26





	Let It All Burn Down

**Author's Note:**

> Look, I don't have anything against Mac/Desi (I write them as a couple sometimes!) but with the time skip, I feel like having them get together and break up offscreen is the least satisfying way they could've possibly handled it. So, alternate take on why Desi might be a hard sell on getting the team back together.
> 
> Some dialogue lifted straight from the episode and other parts ignored as I saw fit.

Two down, Mac tells himself as he and Bozer walk away from Bozer’s press tour. That’s 67% of the team already. Never mind that Riley and Bozer were the easy part. 

Bozer’s giving him a Look. “So, dare I ask?” he says, looking concerned about whatever Mac’s planning to do next. 

Maybe he should be concerned. “Well, I’m gonna go after Desi next,” he says, shoving down the panic that jumps into his throat at the thought.

“Come on,” Bozer says, side-eyeing him. 

“It’s fine,” Mac says. “She can’t—she can’t still blame me for what happened to the Phoenix.” He’s maybe trying to convince himself as much as Bozer. 

“Oh, I think she can,” Bozer says, raising his eyebrows. 

Mac shakes his head. “This is important. She’ll get that.” If she doesn’t catch one glimpse of him and just disappear. 

Bozer huffs out a laugh. “Man, this ought to be good.”

Mac rolls his eyes.

\---

The club Desi’s working at is dark, and loud, and crowded, and everything Mac hates in a public place. Thankfully, he doesn’t have to look far to find her, standing with her back to the wall and watching the crowd. He weaves his way over to her, dodging through the press of bodies. He’s pretty sure someone spills a drink on his jacket. “Desi.” 

She narrows her eyes at him. “Unless you’re here to dance, get out of my club,” she says. 

“Desi, please, hear me out,” he says. He takes a deep breath. “We need your help.”

She’s already shaking her head and ducking past him into the crowd. “Find someone else.” 

He turns sharply to follow her. “At least let me tell you what you’re turning down.” 

“No,” she snaps, spinning to face him. “No way. I uprooted my whole damn life for the Phoenix once and where did that get me?” She shakes her head. “I move halfway across the country to play guard dog and then, what?” She makes a disgusted face. “Whoops, sorry, you don’t have a job anymore!” 

Mac clenches his jaw. He’s not sure what he expected, considering they haven’t seen each other since. Well. Since the Phoenix officially disbanded. Since she told him _Thanks for nothing, asshole,_ and slammed the door behind her. “Desi,” he says, almost too quietly to be heard over the noise in the club. “It’s been a year and a half.” 

“Yeah, and it’s been a long goddamn year and a half,” she snaps. “Can’t go back to my old job, can’t get a new one doing anything worthwhile.” She pauses to glare at him. “You know damn well no one will hire me anymore. CIA, FBI, ATF,” she counts them off on her fingers as she lists them, “hell, even the fucking LAPD won’t have me.” She gestures at the crush of bodies around them. “You think this is what I want to be doing with my life?” 

“This mission would be something worthwhile,” Mac says desperately. 

“Absolutely not,” Desi says. “The Phoenix burned me badly enough the first time. It can stay ashes for all I care.” 

“Desi, lives are at stake.” 

She shakes her head. “Excuse me, Mac. I have to go to work.” She turns away and slides through the crowd with the confidence of someone who knows people will move if they don’t want to be moved. 

Mac watches her go, watches her pull a guy causing trouble away from the bar, watches the guy lash out and shove her. _Bad choice,_ he thinks, and he’d almost feel sorry for him for what happens next if he didn’t have it coming. 

He follows Desi as she drags the man out of the club and tosses him into the street, where she’s met with cheers. He raises his eyebrows. Apparently she’s got a fan club. “Come on,” he says, and winces at the way her face slides right back to disgust. “I’m sorry about the Phoenix. About everything.” He gestures vaguely. “But now is a chance for us to do something good again.” She’s gone from looking furious with him to eyebrows-raised skepticism, so maybe he’s got a chance. “Besides,” he says, because maybe if he can’t appeal to her sense of good, he can sell Desiree Nguyen the thrill-seeker on this, “bouncing thugs out of clubs may scratch the itch a little bit, but tell me you don’t miss the action.” 

She makes several complicated faces in sequence, too fast for him to read. “I still fucking hate you,” she says after a long, awkward silence. “But I’m in.”


End file.
